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TAM O SHANTER; 

A TALE. 

J u> 

TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATUES 



TAM O'SHANTER & SOUTER JOHNNY. 



WOW EXHIBITING 



LINES 

WRITTEN ON SEEING MR. THOWS SCULPTURE OF TAM O'SHANTER AND 
SOUTER JOHNNY: BY TV. AINSLIE, M.D. 

That the great bard — what need to tell the name ? — 
In after times, should still more mighty be, 

At Heaven's command, behold! a Garrick came, 
And both were crown'd with immortality! 

So to the earth, in these our later days, 

Was Thorn, with his soul-breathing chisel, sent ; 

That Burns, enwreath'd in everlasting bays, 
Might speak again in living adamant! 

Morning Post. 



TAM O' SHANTER, 

A TALE. 



When chapmen billies leave the street, 
And drouthy neebors, neebors meet, 
As market-days are wearin late, 
And fouk begin to tak the gate ; 
While we sit bousin at the nappy, 
And getting fou and unco happy, 
We think na on the lang Scots miles, 
The mosses, waters, slaps, and stiles, 
That lie between us and our hame, 
Whare sits our sulky sullen dame, 
Gatherin her brows like gatherin storm, 
Nursin her wrath to keep it warm. 

This truth fand honest Tam o' Shanter, 
As he frae Ayr ae night did canter, 
(Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses 
For honest men and bonny lasses.) 

O Tam ! hadst thou but been sae wise, 
As ta'en thy ain wife Kate's advice ! 
She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum, 
A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum ; 
That, frae November till October, 
Ae market-day thou was na sober ; 
That ilka melder wP the miller, 
Thou sat as lang as thou had siller ; 
That every naig was ca'd a shoe on, 
The smith and thee gat roarin fou on ; 
That at the L — d's house, even on Sunday, 
Thou drank wi' Kirton Jean till Monday. 
She prophesied that, late or soon, 
Thou wad be found deep drown'd in Doon ; 
Or catch'd wi' warlocks in the mirk, 
By Alloway's auld haunted kirk. 

Ah, gentle dames ! it gars me greet, 
To think how mony counsels sweet, 



4 



How mony lengthen'd sage advices, 
The husband frae the wife despises I 

But to our tale : Ae market night, 
Tam had got planted unco right ; 
Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely, 
Wi' reaming swats that drank divinely ; 
And at his elbow So uter Johnny, 
His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony ; 
Tam lo'ed him like a very brither ; 
They had been fou for weeks thegither. 
The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter ; 
And aye the ale was growin better ; 
The Landlady and Tam grew gracious, 
Wi' favours secret, sweet, and precious ; 
The Souter tauld his queerest stories : 
The Landlord's laugh was ready chorus; 
The storm without might rare and rustle, 
Tam didna mind the storm a whistle. 

Care, mad to see a man sae happy, 
E'en drown'd himsel' amang the nappy : 
As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure. 
The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasures 
Kings may be blest, but Ta m was glorious, 
O^er a* the ills o' life victorious ! 

But pleasures are like poppies spread, 
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed - y 
Or like the snow falls in the river, 
A moment white — then melts for ever ; 
Or like the borealis race, 
That flit ere you can point their place ; 
Or like the rainbow's lovely form 
Evanishing amid the storm. — 
Nae man can tether time or tide ; 
The hour approaches Tam maun ride ; 
That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane, 
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in ; 
And sic a night he taks the road in 
As ne'er puir sinner was abroad in. 

The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last ; 
The rattling showers rose on the blast ; 



6 



The speedy gleams the darkness swallo.w'd ; 
Loud, deep, and lang the thunder bellow'd : 
That night a child might understand 
The deil had business on his hand. 

Weel mounted on his grey mare Meg^ 
A better never lifted leg, 
Tam skelpit on thro' dub and mire, 
Despising wind, and rain, and fire ; 
Whiles handing fast his gude blue bonnet ; 
Whiles crooning o'er some auld Scots sonnet ; 
Whiles glow'ring round wi' prudent cares, 
Lest bogles catch him unawares ; 
Kirk-Alloway was drawing nigh, 
Whare ghaists and houlets nightly cry. 

By this time he was cross the ford, 
Whare in the snaw the chapman smoor'd ; 
And past the birks and meikle stane, 
Whare drunken Charlie brak's neck-bane; 
And thro the whins, and by the cairn, 
Whare hunters fand the murder'd bairn ; 
And near the thorn, aboon the well, 
Whare Mungo's mither hanofd hersel. — 

> c5 

Before him Boon pours a' his floods ; 
The doubling storm roars through the woods ; 
The lightnings flash from pole to pole ; 
Near and more near the thunders roll ; 
When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees, 
'Kirk-Alloway seem'd in a bleeze ; 
Thro' ilka bore the beams were glancing ; 
And loud resounded mirth and dancing. — 

Inspiring bold John Barleycorn ! 
What dangers thou canst make us scorn ! 
Wi' tippenny we fear nae evil ; 
Wi' usquabae we'll face the deevil ! — 
The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle, 
Fair play, he cares na deils a bodle. 
But Maggie stood right sair astonished, 
Till, by the heel and hand admonish'd, 
She ventured forward on the light ; 
And, vow ! Tam saw an unco sight! 



6 



Warlocks and witches in a dance ; 

Nae cotillian brent new frae France, 

But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels, 

Put life and mettle in their heels. 

A winnock-bunker in the east, 

There sat auld NrcK in shape o' beast ; 

A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large, 

To gie them music was his charge : 

He screw 'd the pipes and gart them skirl 

Till roof and rafters a' did dirl. — 

Coffins stood round like open presses, 

That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses : 

And by some deevilish cantrip sleight, 

Each in its cauld hand held a light. — 

By which heroic Tam was able 

To note upon the haly table, 

A murderer's banes in gibbet-airns ; 

Twa span-lang, wee, unchristen'd bairns ; 

A thief, new-cutted frae a raip, 

Wi' his last gasp his gab did gape ; 

Five tomahawks, wi' blude red -rusted ; 

Five scimitars, wi' murder crusted ; 

A garter, which a babe had strangled ; 

A knife, a father's throat had mangled, 

Whom his ain son o' life bereft, 

The grey hairs yet stack to the heft • 

Wi' mair o' horrible and awfu', 

Which ev'n to name wad be unlawfu'. 

As Tammie glowr'd, amazed, and curious, 
The mirth and fun grew fast and furious : 
The piper loud and louder blew ; 
The dancers quick and quicker flew ; 
They reel'd, they set, they cross'd, they cleekit, 
Till ikla carlin swat and reekit, 
And coost her duddies to the wark, 
And linket at it in her sark ! 

Now Tam, O Tam ! had thae been queans, 
A' plump and strappin' in their teens ; 
Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flannen, 
Been snaw-white se'enteen-hunder linen ! 



Thir breeks o' mine, my only pair, 
That ance were plush o' guid blue hair, 
I wad hae gi'en them off my hurdies, 
For ae blink o' the bonnie burdies ! 

But whither'd beldams, auld and droll, 
Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal, 
Lowping and flinging on a crumraock, 
I wonder didna turn thy stomach. 

But Tam kenn'd was what fu' brawlie, 
There was ae winsome wench and walie, 
That night enlisted in the core, 
(Lang after kenn'd on Car rick shore ! 
For mony a beast to dead she shot, 
And perish'd mony a bonny boat, 
And shook baith muckle corn and bear, 
And kept the country side in fear ;) 
Her cutty sark, o' Paisly harn, 
That while a lassie she had worn, 
In longitude tho' sorely scanty, 
It was her best, and she was vauntie. — 
Ah ! little kenn'd thy reverend grannie, 
That sark she coft for her wee Nannie, 
Wi' twa pund Scots, ('twas a' her riches,) 
Wad ever graced a dance of witches ! 

But here my muse her wing maun cour ; 
Sic flights are far beyond her powV ; 
To sing how Nannie lap and flang, 
(A souple jade she was and Strang,) 
And how Tam stood, like ane bewitch'd 
And thought his very een enrich'd ; 
Even Satan glowr'd, and fidged fu' fain, 
And hotch'd and blew wi' might and main 
Till first ae caper, syne anither, 
Tam tint his reason a'thegither, 
And roars out, "Well done, Cutty-sark!" 
And in an instant a' was dark ; 
And scarcely had he Maggie rallied, 
When out the hellish legion sallied. 
As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke, 
When plundering herds assail their byke ; 



8 



As open pussie's mortal foes, 

When, pop ! she starts before their nose ; 

As eager runs the market-crowd, 

When " Catch the thief!" resounds aloud ; 

So Maggie runs, the witches follow, 

Wi' monie an eldritch skreech and hollow. 

Ah, Tam ! ah, Tam ! thou'lt get thy fairin ! 
In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin ! 
In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin ! 
Kate soon will be a waefu' woman ! 
Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg, 
And win the key-stane* o' the brig ; 
There at them thou thy tail may toss, 
A running stream they darena cross. 
But ere the key-stane she could make, 
The fient a tail she had to shake; 
For Nannie, far before the rest, 
Hard upon noble Maggie prest, 
And flew at Tam wi' furious ettle ; 
But little wist she Maggie's mettle— 
Ae spring brought off her master hale, 
But left behind her ain grey tail : 
The carlin claught her by the rump, 
And left poor Maggie scarce a stump. 

Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read, 
Ilk man and mother's son, tak heed : 
Whene'er to drink you are inclined, 
Or cutty-sarks run in your mind, 
Think, ye may buy the joys o'er dear, 
Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare. 



* It is a well-known fact, that witches, or any evil spirits, have no 
power to follow a poor wight any faither than the middle of the next run- 
ning stream. It may be proper likewiie to mention to the benighted tra- 
veller, that when he falls in with bogles, whatever danger may be in his 
going forward, there is much more hazard in turning back. 



EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. 



TAM OSHANTER AND SOUTER JOHNNY. 

These figures, of which our readers have already heard so much, are at present 
exhibiting in Glasgow; and all may now have an opportunity of satisfying them- 
selves, whether the praise which has been bestowed was founded in truth and 
judgment, or was merely the good-natured applause of Mr. Thorn's friends. For 
ourselves, we feel they have not been over-praised. Indeed, it would be very 
difficult to do so. In general, when expectation is highly raised as to any object, 
there is a corresponding disappointment on examination. But this is not the 
case here ; for, high as our expectations were, they were far below what awaited 
us ; and this we know to have been the experience of many others. Few could 
previously imagine anything so perfect and complete as this chef-d'oeuvre really is. 
Mr. Thorn has appeared at once before the world a sculptor, and one bearing 
the proud mark of genius. It is a high test of excellence in the fine arts, when 
any work bears repeated inspection without the relish for it being diminished. 
This Mr. Thorn's figures do in a remarkable degree: we have examined them 
repeatedly and most minutely, and we can truly say, our admiration increases the 
oftener we behold them. Indeed, it is only after many examinations that all their 
beauties become completely developed. — Glasgow Herald, Friday, Feb. 20, 1829. 



This Exhibition has afforded feelings of wonder and delight to every refined mind 
who has yet seen it. Scotland is proud of Burns, and she must be equally proud 
of the sculptor of these inimitable statues. Born on the same soil — breathing 
the same atmosphere — and inspired only by nature and the poet, an obscure but 
highly-gifted individual has produced works by which he has astonished all who 
delight either in the triumph of genius, or the glory of art 

The figures are sitting in that attitude, the idea of which is conveyed in these 
lines : 

" Ae market night, 

Tam had got planted unco right. 

Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely, 

Wi, reaming swats that drank divinely : 

And at his elbow Solteb Johnny, 

His ancient, trusty, dronthy crony!" 

The Sculptor has seized the moment when the Souter is in the act of telling one 
of his " queerest stories." The sly leer lurking in his eye, the half-unconscious 
smile of gratification on his countenance, when he hears the loud laugh that his 
n clatter" has elicited from Tam, who, ct unco happy," is just raising the horn 
to his mouth, when his arm is arrested by the story of his companion, are depicted 
with the hand and the mind of a master. We say nothing of the costume of the 
figures, every thing is natural and characteristic. 

The whole merits of these figures can neither be observed nor appreciated by 
one visit or two ; but new beauties will infallibly strike the beholder every time he 
examines them. 

The Sculptor, whose intellectual powers have prompted and enabled him to 
give the world such admirable works, should complete the picture with other 
characters from the same poem. We will not take it upon us to suggest any, but 
we trust soon to see an addition made to his present exhibition, which, from the 
feelings and associations that attach to it, will, we are sure, become the pleasing 
resort of the connoisseur, and the forenoon lounge of the beauty and fashion of 
Edinburgh. — Edinburgh Dramatic Journal, Nov. 29, 1828. 



We have just taken a glance at the two remarkable figures, of the life size, and 
executed in a kind of granite, of Tam o'Shanter and the Souter Johnny, which 
have made much noise in Scotland, and have now reached Bond-street for exhibi- 
tion in the English capital. They are the work of James Thorn, a native of Ayr- 
shire, twenty-six years of age, and a common stone-mason, till these manifestations 
of a superior genius were produced. They are certainly very remarkable and 



10 

characteristic statues. The quiet hilarity of the Souter telling his queerest stories, 
and the uproarious merriment of honest Tam, are expressed in a style as true to 
nature as nature herself. Nor is the rude material ill suited to the persons repre- 
sented ; its gray colour and roughness, on the contrary, accord with the rustic 
and homely forms of the peasant and cobbler. 

We recommend these extraordinary specimens of natural talent to the attention 
of the curious. They are to be placed in Burns' monument, near the scene of 
the poem. — London IAterary Gazette, April 18th, 1829. 



Another peep at Mr. Thorn V f Tarn o'Shanter and Souter Johnny," has confirmed, 
and indeed increased, the high opinion which a hasty glance induced us to pro- 
nounce upon them in our last number. When it is considered that they are the 
first works of a young country stone-mason, who had never seen a statue in his 
life, and who had had no opportunity of applying himself to those preparatory 
studies in which many artists spend so large a portion of time ; and when it is 
considered that (as we understand) he commenced them at once, from the block, 
without having made any previous drawings or models, — they appear little less 
than miraculous. If any thing were wanting to confound the cold metaphysical 
reasoners, who contend that there is no such quality as genius, these statues would 
assuredly supply the deficiency. They go a great way also to shake, if they do 
not entirely overthrow, the long received opinion, that sculpture ought not to 
enjoy the range of painting, but ought strictly to confine itself to the representa- 
tion of lofty or tragic character and expression. Unfeigned, however, as is our 
admiration of what Mr. Thom has thus produced, we should only flatter him, if 
we maintained that he had nothing to acquire. But we do most earnestly hope 
that he will not be so ungrateful to nature, who has done so much for him, as to 
desert her school ; and that what he has yet to learn, and which regards details 
principally, he will learn where he has already profited so largely. We are the 
more solicitous on this head, because we well know that he will speedily be sur- 
rounded by persons who will continually prate to him about the antique and the 
classical. For the refined works of ancient art we have the greatest reverence ; 
but is the human mind to be doomed perpetually to tread a beaten path ? Poetry 
has long given up the heathen mythology ; and none but school-boys and school- 
girls now rhyme about Mars, Venus, Apollo, u and the rest." Why are not the 
arts of design, occasionally at least, to follow their sister's example ? One of the 
greatest charms of this young man's productions is their originality. Let him 
never sacrifice it. Let him scorn to be an imitator. Into close study we trust 
he will plunge ; but let it be the study of life, brtathing around him; let it not be 
study at second, or third, or fourth hand. 

It is but justice to Mr. Thom to remark, that his statues are seen to exceeding 
disadvantage in the room in which they are at present placed. They are illumi- 
nated only by a reflection from a brick wall. The consequence is, that the lights 
are dim, and that the shadows want sharpness. As the material of which the 
figures are composed is itself of a middle tint, the indistinctness thus occasioned 
impairs, although it cannot destroy, their effect. — Lond. Lit. Gas. Apr. 25, 1829. 



Our Scotch friends, resident in the metropolis, and the admirers of the northern 
Shakspeare, R. Burns, will thank us for announcing the safe arrival of those two 
important personages (Tam O'Shanter and Souter Johnny) in London. We had 
the pleasure, in common with many distinguished individuals, of paying them a spe- 
cial visit by invitation yesterday; and we recommend all who have a desire to look 
upon the actual incorporation of the Poet's imaginings in the creation of these cele- 
brated boon companions, to lose no time in paying their respects to them. Such of 
our readers as may not have heard of these remarkable characters, will require to be 
told that they are two pieces of Sculpture, from the untutored chisel of a rude 
mason, a townsman of Burns ; who, guided solely by the inborn light of genius, 
and his enthusiastic admiration of the Poet, has produced specimens from which 
the first masters of the art may take a lesson. It is seldom that the honours of 
Sculpture are given to any order of beings below the rank of deities, kings, 
heroes, and warriors ; but those who go to see honest Tam, and his Companion, 
must shake off all recollection of the Apollo Belvidere, the Venus de Medicis, and 



11 

the Three Graces, and anticipate simply what the Poet has delighted to paint — 
Two ranting Chiels celebrating the Orgies of " John Barleycorn," whose cheery 
features he certainly never imagined could be moulded to the same mockery of 
reality in the stubborn produce of the quarry, as in his own plastic verse. Such, 
however, is the case; the Sculptor, it will be found, is worthy of his unrivalled 
author. The figures are cut out of dusky Ayrshire stone, which is so far suitable 
to the subject, that it gives a natural appearance to the habiliments, which no art 
probably could have imparted to Parian marble. Tarn O'Shanter is seated at his 
ease in a spacious arm-chair, with a cherished jug of ef tippenny " in his hand, 
his legs cased in a huge pair of Shetland ribbed hose, and armed with spurs at 
the heel, stretched out at length ; and his countenance beaming the unspeakable 
delights of the inspiring liquor. The hero's friend, Johnny, appears in equally 
happy mood, and the pair give as lively a representation of the original characters 
sketched out by Burns, as can well be imagined. 

" Ae market night, 

T am had got planted unco right, 
Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely, 
Wi'reammg swats that drank diviuely; 
And at his elbow Souter Johnny, 
His ancient, trusty drouthy crony ; 
Tamlo'ed him like a very brither; 
They had been fou for weeks thegither; 
The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter, 
And aye the ale was growin better. 

The Souter tauld his queerest stories; 
The landlord's laugh was ready chorus ; 
The storm without might rare and rustle, 
Tarn didna mind the storm a whistle. 
Care, mad to see a man sae happy, 
E'en drown "dhimsel amang the nappy : 
As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure, 
The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure ; 
Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, 
O'er all the ills o' life victorious !" 

Eminent Sculptors, who were incredulous of the reported merits of these produc- 
tions, have confessed their unmingled surprise and pleasure on viewing them. So 
admirably chiselled are the hose of Tam, that the spectator can hardly persuade 
himself, without touching them, that they are not genuine knitted woollens. The 
same may be said of other parts of the dress, which fit so naturally to the body, 
that it is hard to believe they are not real. In conception of the design, as well 
as in the execution, it may indeed be said, that the Sculptor has cast his material 
in the identical mould of the Poet's fancy. — London Courier, April 2 1 . 



While among connoisseurs, Titian is admired for his golden tints — Guido, for 
his heavenly countenances — Rembraudt, for his masterly sparkling lights ; and 
Ihe great masters each are awarded with admiration for their more lofty attri- 
butes : — Morland, as a painter, in his Jess elevated walk of the art, was not less 
famous in his line, nor without admirers of his works; and even Hogarth, where 
he twisted scenes of low life into satirical purposes, was held in much higher repu- 
tation for the touches of his truthful pencil, than a caricaturist merely ordinarily 
can expect. Excellence is not confined to any particular description of subjects, 
but is capable of being acquired by superior method and style in any department. 
Genius may be as apparent in the application of the brush of the house painter, 
as in the pencil of a Reubens. 

Mr. Thorn's productions have not for recommendations the fine texture of the 
material — the high polish and delicate whiteness of alabaster ; they are the concep- 
tions of a strong mind, boldly executed on a material of a corresponding hue with 
the rusticity of the subject: instead of delicacy and whiteness, the two « drouthy 
cronies*' appear in " hodden grey" stone. 

The Souter is supposed to have just concluded one of his "queerest stories ;" 
and Tam, who is " unco happy," is finishing a hearty soul-immersing laugh, 
such as the Ettrick Shepherd would, perhaps, designate a " great guffa.'' The 
sly leeriness is admirable that is in the expression of the Souter"s eye, who is a 
perfect crack in his own way, who " gets drunk purely from a love of sobriety," 

L©fC, 



12 

by drinking other people's liquor that they may be kept sober ; he is pleased at the 
effects of his droll tale on Tarn, who is supposed to stand treat for his ale. Tam 
is in the act of lifting the horn to his mouth, which apparently has been arrested 
on its way, by the intervention of Johnny's joke. The Souter sits with the jug 
balanced on his knee, ready to replenish the horn when need requires. The cha- 
racter of both the figures are executed with masterly freedom and skill, and will 
bear the most critical analysis. The costume — the minute attention to the knit- 
ting of the home-made stockings — the every thing that is necessary to bring out 
the design, is at once embraced. If, in viewing sculpture generally, we share feel- 
ings of amazement, mixed with admiration — in viewing these, we must add to the 
other two impressions, that they excited merriment, and involuntarily we joined 
Tam in the laugh at the Souter's story. One thing struck us as peculiarly cha- 
racteristic in the group, and marked the Artist's nicety of observation — the posi- 
tion of the Souters toes, turned in a little, which we believe is generally the case 
with shoemakers, in consequence of the habit which they acquire from the posture 
to which they are confined whilst at work. 

Mr. Thorn, besides striking out a new era in statuary, (what is rarely accom- 
plished) has at once, in this triumph of his art, soared to the highest flight of 
genius of this description ; and, as Burns, the author of the tale of Tam O'Shanter, 
is justly esteemed the best of Scottish Poets — Mr. Thom, the self-taught, has as 
decidedly proved himself the most original Sculptor that Scotland ever produced; 
and we have no doubt that in England his merit will be justly appreciated. 

The Artist is in his twenty-sixth year ; he is a native of the parish of Tarbolton, 
in Ayrshire. It is rather remarkable that the same county should have given 
birth to both the Poet and the Sculptor of the design ; and that the fruitful tale of 
Tam O'Shanter should have furnished scope for their two master pieces. — London 
Morning Advertiser, April 20. 

Tam O'Shanter and Souter Johnny, which have excited so much attention at 
Edinburgh, have been brought to Eondon for exhibition; they are the work of 
Mr. Thom, a self-taught Sculptor, whose genius, like that of the bard to whom 
he has dedicated his talents, has raised him at once to fame, and will, we trust, 
eventually to fortune, with very little assistance from art. Indeed, when we saw, 
on Saturday, at the private view, the two figures of Tam O'Shanter and his friend 
Souter Johnny, we could not hesitate to acknowledge them at once as first-rate 
productions. The material out of which they are cut is Scottish freestone, and 
there is a degree of truth — of spirit — almost of life, about them, that makes it 
difficult, indeed, to conceive them the work of a common stonemason, and executed 
without even the intervention of a model, or so much as a drawing, but merely 
from the contemplation of his own and his neighbours' persons, with the occa- 
sional inspection of the limbs of some sturdy peasant. Although the excellence of 
the anatomy — the spirit of the attitude — and the genius displayed in the very folds 
of honest Tarn's coat, established him at once our favourite ; the rich humour 
pourtrayed in the Souter"s countenance, and the whole contour of the figure, stamp 
it as a masterly production. — London, Globe, April 20. 



It has been always the practice with schoolmen, to consider genius as the off- 
spring of art, rather than as the parent of such works as are destined to go down 
to posterity. That this remark is applicable to what has been called the British 
School of Sculpture, we have had abundant testimony in the inanimate blocks of 
marble which have been exhibited from time to time in the various pieces of sepul- 
ture and public exhibitions, under the cognomen of monuments and effigies. That 
such works have, in a great majority of cases, been monuments of dulness,even 
though they have the distinction of R. A. attached to their artist's name, cannot 
admit of a doubt: but, if any doubt remained, the two Groups of Sculpture now 
exhibiting in Bond Street, and at Charing Cross, would set the question at rest. 
Mr. Carew's beautiful groups of Vulcan and Venus — Arethusa and Adonis, we 
have already noticed briefly, as a splendid specimen of native talent. But the 
work of Mr. Thom is altogether a more extraordinary, and more essential speci- 
men of native genius. The work of Mr. Carew is a very classical and beautiful 
delineation of character, illustrative of the Heathen Mythology. But Mr, Thom, 



13 

who, we understand, is quite a young man, and self-taught, has at once struck out 
a most finished work, illustrative of two of the happiest creations ol that delightful 
Poet of nature, Robert Burns. Whoever has read Burns (and who has not ?) will, 
on visiting the extraordinary productions of Mr. Thorn's chisel, acknowledge the 
stone to be living figures. The rubiconed boniface of Souter Johnny, combined 
with an arch expression about the eyes, and a consciousness of producing an 
excitement in his auditor, is masterly conceived, and finely executed. But the 
figure of Tarn O'Shanter is truly a magical imitation of active life. The open 
mouth, half-closed eyes, and every muscle of the face drawn into action, as if in 
the full enjoyment of mirth and jollity ; while the repose of the whole figure, and 
particularly the left leg drawn under the chair, is executed in a manner quite mar- 
vellous. We should have thought it impossible for a man who has not minutely 
studied anatomical proportions, to have produced such a splendid spec men of the 
chisel, as this figure. The roughness of the material was also against the Artist. 
A brown free stone, though admirably adapted for a monument to the Poet, is by 
no means so striking for exhibition as a work in marble. In short, on looking at 
this figure, it is scarcely possible to understand by what magic so much effect has 
been produced by an uneducated Artist, with such materials as rough freestone, 
and such materials as form the story of these works of art. If the great Scottish 
Poet has left an imperishable name, we have no hesitation in saying, that his illus- 
tration will be worthy of equal honour, if the two other figures, which are to con- 
stitute the monument, are equal to the two now exhibiting. The exhibition is not 
only worthy of a visit from every amateur, but it affords a fine study for juvenile 
artists, in every branch of the fine arts. — British Traveller, April 23, 1829. 



Two statues, life-size, of this celebrated pair of merry-makers, have just been 
brought to London from Edinburgh, where they have excited great attention. 
The sculptor is a Mr. Thorn, of Ayrshire, a common stone-mason, but whose 
surprising genius promises to raise him far above his former humble sphere of 
employment. While art has done nothing for him, we may safely say that nature 
has left nothing undone ; we have certainly never seen any productions of unin- 
structed genius which can be brought into comparison with these statues. His 
only models have been the peasantry of his neighbourhood — his only guide the 
works of the poet Burns ; but these have inspired him with energy and truth. 

The quiet humour of the Souter, who has just cracked one of his best jokes, 
and the hearty mirth of Tam, is inimitable ; the latter, about to raise the cup of 
" reaming swats " to his lips, suspends it mid-way, and enjoys an unchecked laugh, 
while his companion seems to participate in the merriment he has excited. Na- 
ture herself is before the spectator in the figure, the dress, and the mannner of 
the topers ; Tam, especially, is represented with a truth and ease which both 
astonishes and delights ; indeed, so completely has the Sculptor here entered into 
the spirit of his subject, that though he never himself saw the original Tam 
o'Shanter, he has (as we were confidently assured by persons who were intimate 
with Burns' hero) given a wonderfully correct idea, not only of his form and 
manner, but even of his countenance. We should not omit to award him due 
credit also for the anatomical symmetry of both figures. They are cut out of 
blocks of the roughest sandstone, and are intended for the monument of Burns, 
near Alloway Kirk, the scene of Tarn's subsequent adventures. It is singular that 
the Poet, and the Sculptor who has so well illustrated him, own the same birth- 
place. — London Morning Post, April 22, 1829. 



Our London readers have possibly heard something already of the self-taught 
sculptor, Mr. Thom, of Ayrshire, in Scotland ; but if they have not, they will see 
a specimen of his art in the two figures, Tam o'Shanter and Souter Johnny, with 
a private view of which we have been indulged. 

The incident selected by the rude sculptor, — who, without the aid of models, 
without the tedious education of the Italian school, without any of those advan- 
tages which are supposed to minister to genius and give grace to art, has chosen 
to give life to the stone of his native country, and form to the graphic conceptions 
of Bums, — is that Avhere Tam, the hero, is " glorious " over his cups with hi* 



14 

" ancient trusty drouthy crony." They are seated on their separate 'chairs in the 
alehouse. The Souter, with a tankard in his hand, and his pressing thumb ready 
to raise its lid., when about to raise it to his lips, appears to ha^e told one of his 
best jokes, at which Tarn is in all the raptures of a loud and uproarious laugh. 
The quaint smile on the face oi the Souter. pleased at the effects of his own story, 
silently happy over the noisy " guffan " of his companion — his countenance 
jocund, gentiy risible, and excited partly by the home-brewed and the sociality of 
Tarn — is one of the most exquisite expressions we ever saw in either ancient or 
modern sculpture. Tam himself is reeling more from laughter than from ale. 
The glass is in his hand, but all its spirit, and the spirit of the Souter's joke, is 
in his face. He absolutely lives and laughs before you. It is impossible for the 
spectator not to conceive himself in the alehouse, and the tankard full ; nay, you 
could almost put your hand into the Souter's pocket, it stands forth so invitingly 
upon the stone. 

As works of art, they are, in their way, quite unrivalled, and we only regret 
Mr. Thorn does not cease hewing the freestone, and take to marble. He is a man 
of inimitable talent, and we sincerely hope that the exhibition will be honoured by 
every person of taste and every admirer of merit in the metropolis. — London 
Star, April 22, 1 829. 



As we have sometimes thought that the natives of North Briton are sufficiently 
inclined to laud each other, as well as to eulogize the land of their birth, we con- 
fess that we rather expected to find, in the works of art before us, a proof that the 
Scotch critics had over-shot the mark in praising as they have, the young Ayr- 
shire sculptor, Mr. Thorn. But we have been most agreeably disappointed ; for 
though some of the writers alluded to have, we believe, ranked the able artist 
among those who have shone in the very highest class of art (which is a mistake) 
— namely, that which is understood by the severe and classical — yet most of those 
we have perused have certainly done him no more than justice in saying, that he 
is a man of genius, and that his Tam o'Shanter and Souter Johnny abundantly 
prove the assertion. For appropriate expression, ease and propriety of action, — 
for the general air of truth which prevails throughout, as well in the mirth-mov- 
ing coutenances, as in the rude and clownish draperies, — nothing can well be 
better ; but, however gratifying it may be to see such extraordinary merit in the 
first attempt of a young, uneducated man, in a difficult walk of art too — that of 
sculpture — we must wait and see how he will present not only nakzd figures, but 
figures "of the highest order of fine forms/' not those of common-life and in 
gross and coarse pursuits, before we can be duly qualified to judge of the prospect 
he has of taking his place among the Gibsons, the Westmacots, and the Carews, 
his highly gifted contemporaries. Of the English newspapers which have noticed 
these exceedingly humorous performances, the Morning Journal has spoken of it 
in a manner, as it seems to us, most calculated to do justice both to the artist and 
the public ; and we therefore shorten our own task by borrowing the description 
of the two figures given by the judicious writer who conducts the department of 
Fine Arts in that journal : — 

" The incident selected by the rude sculptor, who has chosen to give life to the 
stone of his native country, and form to the graphic conceptions of Burns, is that 
where Tam, the hero, is 'glorious* over his cups with his ' ancient, trusty, drouthy 
crony.' They are seated on their separate chairs ia the ale-house. The Souter, 
with a tankard in his hand, arid his pressing thumb ready to lift its lid, when about 
to raise it to his lips, appears to have told one or his best jokes, at which Tam is 
in all the raptures of aloud and uproarious laugh. The quaint smile on the face 
of the Souter, pleased at the effects of his own story — silently happy over the noisy 
e guffan ' of his companion — his countenance jocund, gently risible, and excited 
partly by the home-brewed and the sociality of Tam, — is one of the most exquisite 
expressions we ever saw in either ancient or modern sculpture. Tarn himself is 
reeling more from laughter than from ale. The glass is in his hand; but all its 
spirit, and the spirit of the Souter's joke, is in his face. He absolutely lives and 
laughs before you. It is impossible for the spectator not to conceive himself in 
the ale-house, and the tankard full. Nay, you could almost put your hand into 
the Souter's pocket, it stands forth so invitingly upon the stone. — As works of art. 



15 

they are, in their way, quite unrivalled, and we only regret that Mr. Thom docs 
not cease hewing the freestone, and take to marble. He is a man of inimitable 
talent, and we sincerely hope that the exhibition will be honoured by every per- 
son of taste, and every admirer of merit in the metropolis." — London Examiner, 
April 26, 1829. 

We cannot agree with those of our contemporaries who have expressed regret 
that these sculptures are not in marble. On the contrary, we think them much 
better in the humble unpretending material in which they have been executed; 
and the very homeliness of which, enhances one of the principal merits on which 
the works themselves rest for the praise which has been, by no means unsparingly 
bestowed on them — that, namely, of propriety ; or, if the term may be allowed 
us, of appropriateness. The stone, in short, is quite in keeping both with the 
figures, and the execution ; and we doubt much whether the group would produce 
half the effect it does at present, had it been worked in a finer material. Souter 
Johnny is certainly an admirably characteristic figure ; his broad, quietly humor- 
ous visage — his fatness — his ease of attitude — his drapery, and broad buttons, 
are all expressed with the utmost fidelity to life and nature. The Souter's apron 
and collar, especially, are capitally done : the difference of character, also, in the 
two cronies, is perfectly imagined, and well maintained, not more in the phisiog- 
nomy, than throughout the figures. 

The figures, both in design and execution, have a dash of rudeness, well suited 
to them under all circumstances, considering that they are intended for a monu- 
ment to a rustic Poet, near the Alloway Kirk, in Ayrshire. — The Atheneeum,and 
Literary Chronicle, April 29. 



Two highly characteristic and admirably executed statues, the work of an un- 
taught artist, a native of Scotland, named Thom, are now exhibiting in Old Bond 
street. They are intended to be illustrative of the humourous tale of Burns ; and 
they are so, with a degree of perfection which cannot be surpassed. Nothing can 
more completely realise the idea of the poet, than those two figures of the sculptor, 
his countryman and admirer, who, like himself, owes his success entirely to his 
own native genius, unassisted by the advantages of education. The triumph he 
has achieved is the more surprising when we find, that this the first attempt he 
has made to imitate the human form at full length, and that these figures have 
been finished without the usual aid of casts and models, and were hewn out of the 
solid stone to embody the just and clear conception with which the artist was 
inspired. 

The attitudes of Tarn O'Shanter and Souter Johnny are both strikingly expres- 
sive of the parts assigned to them in the poem, which thus describes them : — 

But to our tale : Ae market night 
Tam had got planted unco right ; 
Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely, 
Wi' reaming swats that drank divinely ; 
And at Lis elbow Souter Johnny, 
His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony 
Tam lo'ed him like a very brither ; 
They had been fou for weeks thegither. 
The night drave on wi'sangs and clatter ; 
And aye the ale was growin better; 

The Smter tauld his queerest stories : 
The Landlord's laugh was ready chorus ; 
The storm without might rare and rustle, 
Tam didna mind the storm a whistle. 
Care, mad to see a man sae happy, 
E'en drown'd himsel' amang the nappy ; 
As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure. 
The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure ; 
Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, 
O'er a' the ills o' life victorious! 

Tam sits in an arm-chair, with a glass of ale in his hand, laughing openly and 
heartily, and with that full appearance of unmingled delight, which belongs to a 
man in his happy situation. The Souter, we should imagine, has just been 
repeating some of his stories, and is smiling with a sly air, and that sinister ex- 



pression of the mouth, which marks his character. He holds the tankard in hi? 
hand, with his thumb securely fixed on the lid. The dresses of each are remark- 
ably appropriate. Tam wears his (l gude blue bonnet" and a smart suit, with 
Shetland hose drawn over his legs. The Souter has his night-cap on his head, 
and his cobler's apron spread over his body. Their persons are excellently con- 
trasted ; Tam is tall and athletic, Johnny short and squab. Tam is evideutly fit 
for the encounter he is destined to undergo with Old Nick and the Witches ; but 
the Souter seems qualified only to drink ale and laugh at his own jests. " Heroic 
Tam," we can see, feels fully the sentiments — 

Wi'tippenny we fear naeevil ; 
Wi'usquabae, we'll face the Detvil ! 
The swats so rean'd in Tammie's noddle 
• Fair play, he cares na deils a bodle. 

Johnny, on the other hand, is not manifestly disposed to seek for adventures 
beyond the ale room. Be is lazy, careless, and sensual, while Tam has a certain 
degree of dignity and grace. 

The workmanship of these figures, in their minute parts, is as good as in their 
general design and execution. The accuracy with which the materials of the 
dresses are represented is quite astonishing ; and the coarse and rough appearance 
of Tarn's hands is admirably true to nature. The countenances are equally 
excellent ; colour and motion are indeed only wanting to render the illusion so 
perfect, that nobody could fail to be convinced that these figures are actually those 
of living men. Great expectations may be entertained as to the future produc- 
tions of an artist who has rrsen thus rapidly to the highest station in his profes- 
sion, and who has ado ptecHhe popular style of representing the manners of the 
day. We entirely agree with those who think that this is the true course for 
English sculpture, and that nothing can be more ridiculous or tame than the 
imitations of the mythological beings of the Egyptian and Greek superstitions, to 
which our artists have hitherto confined their efforts. Mr. Thorn is not only an 
eminent member of his professsion, but he will have the singular honour of being 
its first and chief reformer. — London Observer, April 26th, 1829. 



This exhibition has pleased us mightiiy. It is so much the fashion to suppose 
that the art of sculpture can only be brought to bear on dying swains — love-sick 
nymphs — et id genus omne, that we were delighted to find there was one man 
within the king's dominions, who was bold enough to break through this cere- 
mony of custom, and show the world that sculpture is as capable as painting, of 
expressing the more whimsical features of humanity. Mr. Thorn, the self-taught 
Sculptor of these two well-known characters, has imbibed, with a genuine relish, 
the true spirit in which their author conceived them ; and, bearing in mind the 
union of feeling that has brought Tam O'Shanter and Souter Johnny together, 
has skilfully contrived so to vary the intrinsic humour of each, that, while they 
cordially harmonize as a pair, they are, at the same time, sufficiently distinct as a 
couple of individuals. — London Spectator, May 2, 1829. 



TAM O'SHANTER AND SOUTER JOHNNY. 



The Stone in which the above Statues are executed, is a hard free-stone, qgk on 
the Estate of Auchincruive (the property of R. A. Oswald, Esq.), situated on the 
banks of the Ayr ; the colour is the natural tint of the stone. 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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